XENIAS

FAYCO (Fayette County) speech: Last evening, I was visiting a friend and she was admiring flowers of the across-the-street neighbor. We both thought they were mums but we had never seen chrysanthemum plants growing with red and yellow flowers together.  The neighbor was outside watering plants. I stepped across the street and asked what the flowers were and she said, "They are Xenias (pronouncing it as the town over in Greene County!)"

MORAL DILEMMA: Should I tell the woman who is the wife of a prominent elected official about ZINNIAS?

Years ago my mother and I were watching "Crockett's Victory Garden" and Mr. Crockett mentioned the lovely CLEMATIS but he pronounced it as: "CLEM-UH-TUS".

I looked at my mother and rushed to get a dictionary. YEP! We could hardly believe that we'd been pronouncing it incorrectly all of our lives! I find it amusing that people now look at me strangely when they hear the correct pronunciation; I've actually had people try to correct my pronunciation which naturally leads to a conversation about numerous mispronunciations, especially in FAYCO!


CLICK HERE to read interesting article:davesgarden.com
I was chatting with the knowledgeable owner of a local nursery. ?I can?t resist these hew-KER-uhs,? I told her as she rang up my purchase of three heuchera plants. ?Oh, yes, the YOO-ker-uh is very ...
DAVESGARDEN.COM